Rob Machado Re-Signs With Reef

Machado Re-Signs With Reef Through 2015; Paddleboard Icon, Jamie Mitchell, Welcomed To The Team

(Carlsbad, CA) February 9th, 2012 – Cardiff, California's Rob Machado, 38, surfing's longtime icon of style, re-signed a footwear deal with Reef, extending their relationship for the next three years. Machado is a traveling ambassador of the Reef Modern Gypsy lifestyle and will represent Reef's premium leather sandal collection. In addition to re-signing Machado, Reef has also inked a footwear deal with all-round elite waterman and recent ASL/Oakley Big Wave Award recipient for Biggest Paddle in Wave, Jamie Mitchell.

Machado has been on the Reef program since 1998 and has been one of the top competitors on the world stage since the early 1990s. Machado's long reign on the ASP World Championship Tour included a second place finish in 1995 and twelve elite Word Tour victories, including the Pipeline Masters in 2000. That year he was also inducted into the Surfers Hall of Fame.

When asked about his new deal with Reef, Machado stated, “Reef has been like family over the years. I’m blessed to have such support and killer product and get to do what I love to do. I’m Looking forward to this next chapter.”

For the past decade, Machado has reaffirmed his love of soulful, stylish surfing. While he continues to impress as a wildcard in various ASP events, Machado has come to represent surfing's wanderlust, traveling the world to document waves off the beaten path and opening the collective surfing mind to a much wider spectrum of surfboards. In addition to surfing, Machado can often be heard playing his music on various tours and continues to be an activist for clean oceans while giving back to his local community.

Jamie Mitchell. Photo: Straley

Reef is also proud to welcome to the team, 10x Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard Race Champion, Jamie Mitchell. The Australian bred competitor travels the world, chasing swells and competing in, and dominating, some of the globe's most physically challenging endurance paddleboard races. Not to be cast as just a master of paddle boarding, Mitchell is just as renowned for his diverse quiver of wave riding vehicles from short boards, foil boards and even canoe surfing. Mitchell will represent Reef's most premium line of leather sandals, the Supreme Collection, alongside big wave riding legend, Shane Dorian.

The always-poised Jamie Mitchell added, "I’m honored to be joining the Reef team. Reef has an amazing group of athletes, many of which I have looked up to for a long time. To have the opportunity to share what I do with the rest of the Reef team is really exciting. I’ve always set out to be adaptable and to enjoy the ocean in as many ways as possible, to have Reef’s support means a lot to me and inspires me to chase my dreams and push them as far as I can."